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Monday, March 26, 2012

Reason Rally Pics & Quick Thoughts

I just have a few thoughts to share since I really haven’t yet been able to formulate a larger thesis to follow-up on the rally. Adam and I travelled down to D.C. with some friends from Pennsylvania and we all met up with Andy from Laughing In Purgatory. The weather was obviously a drag, but as others have noted it wasn’t a factor since everyone either came prepared or just stood in the rain and got wet. No big deal. My big take away from the Reason Rally was for people in the closet to get out of the closet, for those already out and doing something to continue to do so and ratchet it up (get involved in local meet-ups, charities, run for office, etc.), and of course ensure that our voices are heard so we do not let our rights and the rights of our religious family, friends and neighbors slip away. Yes, there was a good deal of antitheism at the rally (which I was totally fine with!), but the crux of that last point is that while we find religion to be ignorant and damaging we just want to ensure that religion does not intrude upon government, education, science, etc. Because clearly that is what many in the religious community want and it never ends well. For anyone. Earlier today I tweeted the pic from one of the fundie protesters that said “Atheist. Drunk. Liar. Thief. Sexual Pervert. Religious Hypocrite. HELL FOREVER.” Someone tweeted back that they were kind of glad that they couldn't go because that hatred makes their heart heavy and they didn’t want to feel that. I responded that it was ok because the Christian protesters were actually a very small contingent and, more importantly, being with so many atheists made it irrelevant. It was neutered into a sideshow for our amusement. Related to that, we ran down to the area where the Westboro Baptist Church was protesting and right when we got there the WBC had packed up and driven off. I don’t know their reasons, but I would like to think that it was because they weren’t getting the usual reaction. They simply weren’t making anyone mad. It was another sideshow from people that are, in all actuality, irrelevant. They couldn’t hurt any of us because everyone there doesn’t recognize religion as a good thing to begin with. They aren’t corrupting it. They have just taken it to its conservative, logical extreme. That’s why Christians not associated with WBC get so mad at them. It may be a funhouse mirror of them, but it is still a mirror. In conclusion, the best part of the Reason Rally was the realization that I was around so many people just...like...me.And it was fucking awesome. All pics are by Adam, myself and friend of LH; Jason aka @themorbidslayer. Pics are after the jump.